Doing Business in Alaska: Everything You Need to Know

Doing business in Alaska means setting up as a business entity with the state. A business entity describes the way a business owner can do business legally. 3 min read

Doing business in Alaska means setting up as a business entity with the state. A business entity can also be called a business structure, and it describes the way a business owner legally organizes the organization to do business. After developing your business idea and deciding what kind of business you want to open, it's time to write up a business plan. While this is considered one of the most important steps for business startups in Alaska, a lot of people underestimate the value of doing business planning.

Business Planning for Success

Committing the plan for your business to written form takes the ideas out of your mind and lets you organize them. It gives you a path to follow and helps you get your business to the desired level of success. The business plan is considered one of the critical details for starting a business that has the potential to succeed. Business plans are unique to each business, so there's no single way to write one. It's up to each business owner whether they want to write the plan themselves or use digital tools for this key step in starting a business.

Writing a Business Plan

It's important for you, as the business owner, to take part in developing and writing the plan for your business. Business advisors offer useful insights into aspects of business and planning that may be unfamiliar, and an advisor can help increase your level of understanding about business areas you haven't thought of before. A business plan needs to include:

The executive summary

The business overview

Management and employees

The marketing plan

Business Plan Executive Summaries

The executive summary is the first section of a business plan. It isn't the part you write first, though. It's usually written last because it needs to provide a brief explanation of the entire plan. This is so investors and lending institutions can see what you want to do with your business.

Overview of the Business

The business overview shows what the company sells, and it tells potential financiers why it's an investment worth considering. Lead with the most important information, so a lending institution review committee can find the things they need to know quickly. Use precise wording, and make sure the plan is easy to understand. Also, make sure the plan shows why your business is needed in the marketplace. Include long-term goals for your business in the overview. Sharing long-term vision for the company helps get investors on board and can even make it easier to get loans in the future.

Management and Employees

The management and employees section of a business plan gives you the opportunity to share some information about how you expect your business to operate on a day-to-day basis. Things like employees you expect to need and how much you expect to pay them belong in this section. It also gives you the chance to share information about your vision and experience in the field. Your experience, as the owner, is major in determining whether your business gets the funding it needs, so don't hold back. Make sure you share everything a lender may need to know about your skill set and why it will help the business succeed.

Marketing Plan

The marketing section of a business plan is important because you need to be sure of having enough customers to keep the business operating, and advertising is a way to reach them. Bankers might not spend as long reviewing this part of the business plan, but it's still important. It might be tempting to be brief in this section or invest less time in researching for it, but without a clear plan for getting and keeping customers, the business might not succeed.

Financial Projections

The section of the business plan that includes financial projections is typically the most important to banks and investors. Plus, the business owner needs to know if the business has the chance to bring in a profit. Things to include in the financial projections section include:

Startup costs

Projections on sales

Financial accounting statements

Predictions on when the business will break even

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